Kentucky State University Career Guide

Your 1 st Day/Month on the Job

Your First Day on the Job

Your First Month on the Job

Know the route, distance and time it will take to get to your office. (Factor in the rush hour.) Be early! If you have been given company literature (policy or procedures handbooks), make sure you have studied it. Report to the person your company directed you to contact. If you were told to report to Human Resources or Personnel, take advantage of this orientation time to get to know the people there. You may need their help in the future. Fill out necessary forms for benefits, compensation, etc. and ask questions about anything you do not understand. Make an effort to meet everyone in your department and spend a few minutes talking with them. Your supervisor may introduce you, but if not you must take the initiative. Have enough money with you for lunch in case it is suggested that you go out to eat. Sometimes the supervisor will plan to take you, but not always. Spend the day meeting people, organizing your office, taking care of personnel matters and familiarizing yourself with the company. Leave work after the official closing time and take home papers and other materials to read that evening. Say goodnight to everyone in your office before departing. If appropriate, thank them for helping your first day go smoothly. Because you probably have interviewed on site, you will be familiar with certain people at your new job (those who had a say in the decision to hire you). Your first day on the job, however, is the first time that many of the company employees will see you, be introduced to you and make a quick assessment of you. Handle your first day well and your first month will be much easier. Be impeccably groomed.         

Determine your supervisor’s expectations of you. If within the first week or two your manager does not set up a formal meeting to discuss expectations, policies and responsibilities, request such a meeting. The best way to know what your boss wants is to ask! If you try to second-guess, you run the risk of ranking priorities in a different order than the organization does. Even if you do excellent work, you’ll miss the mark--commonly referred to as “doing the wrong things very well.” At the meeting, agree on duties and define objectives and goals--yours and your supervisor’s. Review your job description beforehand and let it act as your guide. If you don’t have a job description, ask for one. Make constructive use of time. Respect and adhere to work schedules, be on time, do not abuse lunch hours and meet deadlines! Display not only the ability to do the job but the willingness to work and be productive. You may need to keep yourself busy during the first few weeks--read training manuals, study the organizational charts, organize your files, review annual reports. Don’t bother others, talk on the phone or stare out the window. Everyone goes through a learning curve on a new job. Because you cannot fully display your on-the-job capabilities during the first weeks, you need to make a good impression in other ways. Prove to your supervisor and department members that their investment of time, effort and money have been well spent. You can do this in several ways: Ironically, your first week or two on the job, the time when you are most eager to do well, is the time when employers’ expectations are low. A new employee is generally not expected to be productive immediately. Employers know that this is a time for listening and learning, for asking questions and for processing the large amount of information that is thrown your way.

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